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International TournamentsDiscuss international tournaments such as the World Juniors, Olympic hockey, and Ice Hockey World Championships, as they take place; or discuss past tournaments.

2014 - Sweden Roster Discussion

Which guys do you people see as being on the squad for the 2014?
Just a few of years back (like our olympics win or so) I thought we'd be useless by that time, since we had no high picks, and all our stars were aging...

But now some really good defenders have been coming up and it looks quite good actually, we'll have the 3rd best D-line up after Canada and USA if Larsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman keep this path. Even if they don't get a lot better we'll still probably have the 3rd best. Our forward corps doesn't look that good though and it's crucial that Sedins and Zetterberg keep a high level of play since they are the only three possible pure top6ers I could see except Loui, Landeskog and Bäckström. Luckily though Sedins play best with a role player, a crash the net smasher/sniper like Hörnqvist would probably be even better than Burrows.

It's just 2 years though, so some won't have panned out yet so I don't think we'll se that many players born in the 90's.
However, this is my hypothesis:

I'm not that sure of Franzén, Silfverberg or Adam Larsson though out of the top18. Out of my benchwarmers Pääjäärvi and Zibanejad is a coin-toss with many other players, I don't think either of those will be on the squad but I couldn't find 2 others that will either.
Franzén will be recently turned 34, but I can't see him losing that much in 2 years that the "possibles" will take his place. Rundblad and Erixon might as well burst out any season now, and Grossmann/Kronwall/Ericsson might just fight for 1 spot. The D looks really good.

The O looks okay, it still waaay better than Finland and Slovakia's offense. And it's somewhat a draw with the Czech's, if Sedin's and Zetterberg keep this current quality we have a slight edge, if they get worse it's a draw. But however I view this our O is way worse than USA, Russia and Canada.

Goalies all depends on Lundqvist. If he's like he is now, and not hurt, we have probably (USA have great goalies also) best goalies. If he's injured or lost his way we might as well have the worst goalies. But I can't see him losing much at all in 2 years, he should more likely be entering his peak right about 2014. It seems to me our squad will be the 4th (maybe 3rd ahead of russia, depending on their D and G prospects) best on paper when all is said and done. 3rd best D and 4th-5th best O, probably with THE best goalie.

Canada and USA WILL have the best squads on paper. They are top 2 in every category except maybe Canada in goalies depending on how Price etc will pan out. However paper doesn't mean everything, our 2006 squad was probably only the 3rd best on paper, and Finland went to the final with the 6th best squad.

What do you guys think? Which players will be on the squad? And will we have a good chance at the gold - meaning how does our team stand up to others? Though I don't assume much activity on this thread since it's in this subforum. I'd give the go-ahead to guess other nations squad as well but I guess there are already threads for that.

Not much will happen to the top6 in two years, players don't fall apart in their early 30s. It's what happens with the young guys that is interesting.. Johansson, Hagelin, Paajarvi, Zibanejad, Nyquist, Kruger, Jarnkrok, Josefson etc.

A defense with Enstrom, Edler, Kronwall, OEL, Karlsson, Hedman to start. Bring some grit to that with Murray/Grossmann/Ericsson as the 7th. Very well-balanced, smooth skating defense perfect for the big ice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zorz

you sure you want the Sedins to lead your team? I mean, look at the Canucks

As long as Zetterberg is on the same team, there'll be no leading for them. But with their improved skating and big ice with a lot of space, I'll gladly take them on the 2nd line.

It seems we pretty much agree. But Oliver Ekman-Larsson will absolutely not be our #7 defenseman, I can guarantee. He's already in our top6, that's including Lidström. He's looked ultra-solid for Phoenix all year and especially now in the playoffs.

A few years ago i would have cringed at this thread but since the revamp we see more and more possible star forwards
Just looking at draftes this year we got colberg, forsberg and åberg then next year theres lindholm, burakowsky, dela rose, our forward crops just get better and better My bet is sedins and zäta wont even play in sochi

He listed six European based players. He obviously believes there will be no NHLers in Sotji

I believe we're not forced to bring aging vets anymore with all the depth inc, also i wouldnt bring the sedins even in their prime. Not after the last olympics, theres no excuse for how they played, and hopefully mårts have learned from watching BÅG

I believe we're not forced to bring aging vets anymore with all the depth inc, also i wouldnt bring the sedins even in their prime. Not after the last olympics, theres no excuse for how they played, and hopefully mårts have learned from watching BÅG

Their failure in the olympics is very overblown, we had one bad game in the tournament and unfortunately it was the most important one. They could probably have done better but so could most of the players on that team. Daniel had 3 points in 4 games and Henrik 2, perhaps not great stats but their play in the last olympics is not a reason for not inviting them to the next one. Their replacements would be a massive downgrade.

I believe we're not forced to bring aging vets anymore with all the depth inc, also i wouldnt bring the sedins even in their prime. Not after the last olympics, theres no excuse for how they played, and hopefully mårts have learned from watching BÅG

The depth is just that, depth. We don't even have aging veterans because of the lack of good forwards born -74 to -79.

People counting out Sedin's and Zetterberg's and Franzén's... It's not even 2 years until the Olympics. Do you really think they will lose that much that they'll be worse than Stålberg or whomever in just 2 years? Yeah them being 33-34 years might get some people to consider them twice but they are all late bloomers and late bloomers tend to keep their peak going for longer and higher up in the ages than early bloomers.

And I don't think there'll be more than 1-2 players that are not in the NHL right now. Järnkrok, Larsson and especially Silfverberg COULD blast through in the NHL in 2 years, but still, it's just 2 years... Most players won't get world all star from Elitserien all stars in 2 years, and NHL All Stars like Zetterberg and Sedin's won't get that much worse either. I think Silfverberg might make the squad but I believe more in the guys we already have in the NHL than in the rest of the Elitserien youngsters.